The Way Back
by Whattheydonttellus
Summary: November 2nd, 1941 Equestria is licked in war. The mane 6 are sent to canterlot on a political mission to try and end the war. The enemy loyalist forces capture the six leaders from the seceded side of equestria. The six are taken to SAA labor camp, run and controlled by big macintosh. The six have to escape, but even if they can, they must cross 1300 miles of unforgiving terrain.
1. Prologue

The Way Back

Rivers ulmer

Prologue- november 2nd, 1941

In the dark times of the Equestrian Civil War, the mane six are sent to the west side of the broken kingdom on a political mission. As they approach the royal palace the eastern side of Equestria seceded from, their train is attacked by loyalist forces who take the six ponies to the home they have not seen in years. They had to leave ponyville, as it became government controlled when the war broke out, and as time passed, ponyville changed. Big macintosh sided against his sister and is now the warden of Sweet Apple Acres POW labor camp. The six know that they don't have the strength to go on working in the mines, and will be killed by the cruel guards, but only if the horrible working conditions and harsh labor don't get to them first. The only solution: a daring and death defying escape from the camp.

Even after they escape the prison, they have thirteen hundred miles of unforgiving terrain to cross, on hoof.

"I hope this mission goes as planned. If we come to an agreement with the princess, we could get this war on a path to an end." Twilight said to her friends.

"What if something goes wrong? We would be in serious danger if we mess this up." Fluttershy was shaking with fear.

"Relax flutters, everything will go great!" Pinkie pie assured the cowering pegasus while jumping up and down from the excitement of seeing canterlot after so long.

"Who else thinks bringin pinky pie on a serious political mission was a bad idea?" Applejack said, knowing that bringing a box of laughter to a war conference was not a smart decision. They all sat be the window of the train car, watching the snow fall until the equestrian capitol city of Canterlot was in sight.

"We're almost there-" Twilight was cut off by a loud BANG, and the shaking if the train. "What was that?" Just then, the door at the back of their car curst open. Seven stallions, all in royal guard uniforms entered. The loyalist forces graved and subdued all six mares, then hoof-cuffed them.

"What the hell?!" Rarity shouted as they were forced to the back of the train. As they were 'escorted' to the rear, they saw their entire security force had beed killed. The six ponies were brought to a military transport truck that was right along side the train. The large vehicle drove up onto the tracks and aligned itself so the mane six could be shoved into the back, followed by their captors.

"This was a civil mission! Why were we attacked?" Twilight demanded. The guards were silent. The back of the transport was closed, and the eastern representatives were driven for what seemed like hours, to an unknown destination.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: things change with time- 2:14 am, november 3rd, 1941

The six mares were uncuffed and pushed out onto the cold snow. They saw they were surrounded by other captives that must have been soldiers taken prisoner or civilian captured for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least a hundred guards armed with assault rifles and machine guns watched over the new prisoners. The six were pushed into the crowd of colts and mares walking into a familiar place. Applejack, rainbow dash, twilight, rarity, fluttershy, and pinky pie had the strange feeling that they had been to this place before, but they couldn't quite remember until several ponies moved out of the way, revealing a large sign.

"Sweet Apple Acres Labor Camp" This was not good.

The ponies around the mane six were mares and colts just like them and of all ages. Rarity almost broke down in tears when she saw a foal that could not have been more than a few years old and could barely walk pushed along at gunpoint. Pinky pie's spirits were crushed at the sight of an old stallion getting pulled out of line and shot in the back of the head right there on the spot. They each witnessed a different horrifying event that scarred them all, but nopony saw a worse sight than applejack, who felt a sharp pain in her chest when all of the prisoners were directed to a stage where they would be addressed by the warden, and saw no other pony but her own brother, big macintosh. The others had to hold her up when she collapsed from shock. How could her own flesh and blood willingly lead a forced labor institution?

"Mares and stallions of the east." Big macintosh said into a microphone. "You are here because you were arrested for treason against the crown. You are a traitor to your country and to your leaders, princess celestia and princess luna. This is Sweet Apple Acres Labor Camp, where you will spend the rest of the war working in the coal mines or in the refinery. Any resistance against the guards or signs of rebellion will not be tolerated, and you will not go without punishment. All offenses committed here at camp will result in solitary confinement, whipping, or execution. You will each be given three meals a day, a bunk in your assigned cabin. All ponies must be in their bunk by dusk, anypony still outside after curfew will be shot on sight. You will be assigned an inmate tag. This tag has your ID number, you will need this tag to access all parts of the facility. Should you lose your tag, you will be punished severely. Your tag also has your assigned cabin, bunk, and job. All ponies have a job at SAA labor camp, no matter their age. You will begin your work day at six a.m. after breakfast, continue until lunch at noon, then work until you return to the mess hall for diner at eight p.m. If i have made myself clear, you all will now be assigned your IDs, jobs, and cabins." As the large, red pony started to walk off the stage, we was stopped by a protesting voice. "Heheh, there's always one who thinks they have a chance."

"YOU SICK BUSTARD! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN KIND?!" Two guards pulled applejack out of the crowd and marched her up on stage. "How could you do this to your own family?"

"Applejack? It's been a while. Five? Six years?"

"Piss off."

"There's always one who speaks up on the first day. They never make that mistake again." Applejack was tied up to the post in the middle of the stage. "Now ah know you won't be causing any more trouble." Big mac pulled a whip off of his belt and uncoiled it.

"AAGH!" Applejack cried out in pain as the entire camp watched big macintosh slash his sister in the back. "AGH!" She was whipped again and again. The torture ended after ten brutal lashes. Applejack was untied before she fell to the ground, her blood spilling out onto the hard wooden stage.

"Does anypony else have something to say?" Big mac turned to his sister. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Go to hell." Applejack spit in her brother's face. Big mac just brushed it off and walked off stage. As soon as he left, applejack's friends rushed to help her.

"AJ, you're bleeding, you need help." The five mares brought the unconscious pony to the infirmary. "You're going to be alright applejack." Rainbow dash said, trying to ease the pain by spreading out some snow onto her back.

"Alright, get to your cabins." A guard pushed all of the ponies out except for applejack, who was not receiving any helpful medical attention. There was nothing the medics did for anypony that was useful in any way. They were not even real doctors, they just sat in the infirmary doing nothing just so big mac could meet the requirement of having a medical staff so the princesses would not close the camp. Applejack's back and chest were sprayed with antibiotics and bandaged up, then she was sent to her cabin.

Twilight and rarity helped their friend to her bunk. All if the mane six were placed in the same cabin, their beds in a group. The bunks were stacked in twos, applejack on top of rainbow dash, twilight on top of rarity, and fluttershy on top of pinky pie. They git only a few hours of sleep before morning came, and they were sent to work. Their bodies were examined, and they would be placed in either the mines or the refinery based on their physical ability. Rainbow dash and applejack, both athletes, were the only two out of the six that were deemed fit enough to work the mine tunnels, the other four were sent to the coal refinery. Rarity, fluttershy, twilight, and pinky all sat in the freezing cold factory operating large machines. If they screwed up, they were beaten or shot. The two stronger ponies were of the few females that were given pick-axes and helmets and pushed into the large elevator that lowered then deep underground.

Lots of ponies had been moved between jobs for one reason or another, and they all said that they would take factory work any day. Rarity was talking to a slightly older colt that used to be a minor, but was injured by a rockslide and was put on machine work. "You be grateful you aren't fit enough to go down in those tunnels." The stallion said. "The smell of coal is impossible to get used to, there are falling rocks everywhere, it's at least a hundred degrees down there even in the winter... He went on and on, listing about fifty or so reasons to rarity explaining why her friends were in hell. When applejack and rainbow dash heard rarity asking about what it was like, they described their job worse than the stallion in the factory did.

At the end of day one, applejack and rainbow dash saw the beautiful sun that they felt like they would never see again. They sat down to dinner with the others, still covered in soot and coughing up coal dust. The factory workers knew the mines were torturous, but they couldn't stand to think about what it was like for the farm pony and her injuries. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were nothing but little piles of green slop. "I'm not even sure this is edible." Twilight said, poking her dinner with a spoon. The minors, however, did not care. They were so hungry after work that they devoured their mush in just a few bites, despite the foul taste and wretched smell. "What are we even doing here? We were supposed to be at a political meeting, but instead get thrown in a damn forced labor camp that used to be our own home." Twilight said.

"This is the shittiest, most despicable hellhole on the planet. Applejack, your brother is a demonic son of a bitch." Her friends looked at her in shock.

"Fluttershy? Was that you?" The yellow pegasus had not realized what she said until after it came out.

"Oh, gosh, i didn't mean to, um say-" Fluttershy tried to hide behind her mane. Just then the mess hall was filled with a loud, echoing, beep that signaled dinner was over, and they had fifteen minutes to get to their cabins.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: the loop, october 17th, 1942

Each day was the same at the camp, wake up, get breakfast, work for five hours, get lunch, work for seven more hours, get dinner, go to sleep. The cycle repeated for days, then weeks, then months, eventually the mane six had been imprisoned in a POW camp for almost a year. "To hell with this place. Im getting out." Rainbow dash had almost snapped.

"Are you crazy? They'll kill you before you make it to the fence." Pinky pie said. She stopped laughing at everything and finally got a taste of reality when the old stallion was executed and applejack was whipped on the first day.

"I don't care. I would rather die than spend one more night here."

"Rainbow dash, darling, don't you think others have tried? This place is sealed, there's no chance." Rarity spoke up.

"I don't care. If i have to break one more rock with that that pickaxe, i am going to lose it."

"She had a point. Yall haven't stood there for twelve hours straight chopping at a rock wall. There has been talk in the mines, we can use the picks as weapons to get into the guard armory. If we can get guns, we can overrun the camp."

"What makes you say that?"

"We outnumber the security force two to one. There aint nothing they can do to stop us." Applejack answered with the closest thing to enthusiasm she had felt in a year.

"There aren't many guards watching the mines, we could overpower them, once we do that, we would have to get out of the mines and take the armory." Rainbow dash said. "Give us three days to get the minors on board."

"Alright. On the twentieth of october, we strike." All six ponies agreed. It did not take much thinking to figure out why nopony had had tried to overpower the camp. Big macintosh used fear factor to keep the prisoners in line. Ponies were sent into solitary every hour, whippings and executions happened at least once or twice a day. Something was in the hearts of these six ponies that made them attempt what nopony had ever done, it may have been will power, strength, courage, or maybe just stupidity, but they knew they were going to escape, or die trying.


End file.
